Managing Polypharmacy in the Elderly - Essay Example

"Managing Polypharmacy in the Elderly" is a great example of a paper on nursing homes. Aging is a natural process caused by the wear and tear of cells in our bodies. There are various senior centers established in order to provide a mentally peaceful environment and social security to older individuals in a society. The senior center is well known as old home which is a shelter provided to weak and old individuals of the society. This is a place where older adults of the society are provided with food, health, educational and recreational services in order to improve their quality of life. The consumer of these senior centers is old aged people, their family, and caregivers. Each center has a certain age limitation for admission. There are two types of senior centers, one is the center of merit, and the other is the center of excellence.

                       Center of merits assists the older adults in society by offering them case assistance whether directly or indirectly through links. They involve the older individuals in activities like writing advertisements for newspapers and distributing the center’s broachers, calendar of events, and newsletters. They also provide legal advice along with counseling on matters of tax and insurance. Give advice regarding nutritional management. Also, promote the social and recreational wellbeing of older adults in a community. They also organize seminars and classes to absorb the older people into educational activities and to take part in volunteer services for the center or for the community.

                     While Centers of excellence includes all the services provided by the center of merits along with more advance and record-keeping mechanism. They provide social security numbers and health benefits. Screening services are provided within the home. In-home regular checkups are provided especially in case of high-risk diseases. They ensure an older individual's training for the job based on their experience and also arrange retirement programs.

                      In old age, another big issue is to manage a large number of pills. Polypharmacy is to utilize a large number usually more than 5 medications by a patient when multiple drugs are provided which cannot be clinically warranted. Physicians provided by these senior centers help an older adult to manage polypharmacy by simply managing the dose of drugs, assessing symptoms, stopping or tapering the number of pills, a drug interaction check should be conducted, consider a reduction in dosage with advancing age, use of medication which can treat multiple diseases. Drugs with more side effects should be revised or changed. After taking a proper history from a patient the drug regimens should be considered and then altered accordingly. Success is achieved when the physician gains patients' confidence and counsels him properly. (Farell,2012)

                 That older individual who are close to retirement or have retired another big issue faced by them is poverty. With advancing age the need for money increases. “When you reach this age having a few money matters more than ever. The older we get the more important it is to try to eat well and stay warm. That starts with money”. The main purpose of these shelter homes is to provide the old retired people with mental peace and security”(Mckee,2012).

      According to a study conducted by a certified wellness coach, it was surprising to know that a great number of older adults are still interested in having intimacy. In fact, about 53 % of those aged between 65-74 and 26 % of those between 75-85 said they are still sexually active. It was also observed that the need for intimacy is less in older women. In a male decrease in sexual intimacy can be due to poor health, psychological or social issues, and erectile dysfunction. Therefore it can be concluded that the need for intimacy and emotional connection is regardless of age. (Cummings,2010)

 

Read More